Snowflake is an open-source graphical SSH client. It is an extremely useful tool that allows you to manage SSH access using a simple graphical user interface. It can be installed and used on Windows and Linux systems. You only need to install Snowflake on the SSH client machine. This tool provides a lot of functionalities which makes it very convenient to work on remote systems.
Here at Ibmi Media, as part of our Server Management Services, we regularly help our Customers to perform related SSH Software configuration queries on Ubuntu Linux system.
In this context, we shall look into how to install Muon/Snowflake graphical SSH client on Ubuntu and also how to connect to remote system using Snowflake SSH client.
This method involves using the .deb package available at the GitHub site. So follow the below steps:
i. Go to the Snowflake GitHub site and download Snowflake’s latest version for Ubuntu OS. Or else, you can run the below command to download Snowflake latest version 1.0.4:
$ wget https://github.com/subhra74/snowflake/releases/download/v1.0.4/snowflake-1.0.4-setup-amd64.deb
The downloaded file will be saved as snowflake-1.0.4-setup-amd64.deb.
ii. Now in order to install Snowflake, run the command below:
$ sudo dpkg -i snowflake-1.0.4-setup-amd64.deb
If you have downloaded a different version of Snowflake, make sure to change the package name in the above command with yours.
This will install Snowflake to your Ubuntu system.
Here, we will install Muon / Snowflake on Ubuntu OS using the snap package. So follow the below steps:
i. Execute the below command to keep list of sources up to date:
$ sudo apt update
ii. To install any snap package on Ubuntu OS, you will need snapd. You can install snapd by running the command below:
$ sudo apt install snapd
iii. Now you can install Snowflake snap using the command below:
$ sudo snap install snowflake
This will install Snowflake to your Ubuntu system. The output will display the exact version of Snowflake installed on your Ubuntu system.
To launch Muon/Snowflake, press the super key and then use the search box at the top to search and launch Snowflake.
To launch Muon/Snowflake from the command line, run the below command:
$ snowflake
Now Snowflake's default window will be displayed upon launching the Muon/Snowflake application.
To connect to a remote site via SSH, click New connection. This will open a new Session manager window.
Type the IP address, user name, and password of the remote host in their respective fields. Then click Connect to connect to the remote host.
After connecting to the remote host, you will see a view with the directory tree of both the local and remote systems. From here, you can transfer your files to and from the remote host.
Muon/Snowflake has a very simple and easy to use graphical interface with a lot of useful functions. Now you can start using the tool and explore its other functionalities.
If you have installed Muon/Snowflake using the dpkg, you can uninstall it by running the below command:
$ sudo apt remove snowflake
If you have installed Muon/Snowflake using the snap, you can uninstall it by running the below command:
$ sudo snap remove snowflake
This article covers the different ways of installing Muon/Snowflake on your Ubuntu machine.
Snowflake's functionalities includes: